Wakesurfing Tips and Tricks

Wakesurfing is a sport that was supposedly invented prior to wakeboarding however is just now enjoying revival amongst advocates of boating sports. Wakesurfing is precisely what it sounds like: an individual uses a “surfing” wakeboard to surf the waves produced by the wake of a boat.

The wakesurfer utilizes a tow rope to get into position behind the boat but doesn’t begin surfing the wake until releasing the rope. Everything is done freestyle – much like an ocean surfer. The general mechanics and moves associated with riding a wake are the same as if an individual were riding an ocean wave.

Here are the standard things you need to understand to get started wakesurfing:

Find a quality wakesurfer. When surfers began tossing their 9 foot ocean longboards behind a boat and riding the wakes, the sport was started. They swiftly recognized that the brand-new sport they were inventing was something that they wanted to continue doing and began personalizing new and improved surf wakeboards particularly for wakesurfing.

Today’s wakesurfing boards are a hybrid of a conventional shortboard and a wakeboard. Almost all major brands that manufacture wakeboards now bring a line of browsing wakeboards as well.

Wakesurfing needs to be done behind an inboard ski boat – a ballasted wakeboat works best. The boat should be driven fairly slowly – it should not go over 9 to 14mph – as the wakesurfer is not connected to their board during towing. Throughout surfing, the natural surf of the water will certainly slow them down.

Get a rope designed for wakesurfing. Traditional wakeboarding ropes are thin and long. The thicker and shorter design of wakesurf ropes makes the maneuvering necessary in wakesurfing much easier on the rider. Wakesurf ropes will certainly often have extra knots and grips throughout the rope so that the wakesurfer can make use of as much or as little of the rope as they really want when positioning themselves on the wake.

As mentioned previously, a ballasted ski watercraft is ideal for wakesurfing. Wakeboarding and wakesurfing companies produce weighted ballast bags specifically for the function of creating the perfect wake for a wakesurfer. The best technique for this function is to weigh down one side of the boat more than the other. This will create the ideal wake, much like you would see in the ocean along the coast.

Those are the basic necessities for wakesurfing. It may sound scarier than wakeboarding, it is really a much safer and lower impact option. The boat travels much slower than in wakeboarding and you are not being towed with the momentum of the boat for your entire trip.